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Hey, I posted this in response to a question you asked, but since the article is so old I can't be sure you saw it. I'd love to hear what you think about it, and if you'd counter with your own thoughts as well.

The only thing Adriano has over Alba, offensively, is his ability to curl a shot in from outside the box. If he was particularly consistent with this or could at least replicate it several times a season that would be enough to warrant him getting Alba's spot, but as it is now, Alba is a far better dribbler, has superior speed, and his overlaps of Neymar and Iniesta provide far more danger in the box than Adriano, who simply acts as a second wide man in a similar fashion to Dani Alves on the right wing.

We lose a tremendous amount of creativity, and, in some cases, a goal threat, when Alba isn't running along the flanks. His overlaps around Iniesta and whichever useless winger was on the left last season caused a ridiculous amount of trouble for opposing opposition and has earned us quite a few goals from him. I understand a lot of people hate him because he playacts a lot and isn't anything like Abidal, but he is instrumental to not only our directness, but our build up play as well. Adriano will never be on Alba's level when it comes to dribbling, beating his man, and even finishing opportunities. There's a reason we bought Alba in 2012 in Abidal's absence instead of just playing Adriano more regularly.

Defensively, he is somewhat lacking, but then, so is our other fullback. At a certain point something has got to give and we're going to need a more solid defensive fullback, but Alba is 24, and Alves is 30. The decision on that one should be obvious. Having center backs who are able to hold strikers up and properly time their tackles (The way Bartra has been so far this season) would also greatly help our defense look less exposed as it would give our wingbacks time to get back and help defend, and Alba is much faster at getting back in such situations, being behind only Messi and possibly now Neymar in terms of raw pace.